Some 200 metres N of
a by-road, 5.6 km SSW of Dungiven, in a rushy field above a
ruined house and a blasted tree, stands a group of 4 circles,
all of many low stones typical of the Mid-Ulster type of stone
circle, and stone-rows - one of which (illustrated below)
extends for 18 metres and seems to point to a cleft in the hills.
This complex is comparable with the much more extensive and
better-preserved group at Beaghmore, county Tyrone.

~ 1.7 km NNE, overlooking
the Owenrigh river valley in Carnanbane (C 671 058) is
a complex and curious structure which includes a two-chambered
court-tomb with fine entrance stones, a large and curious grooved
black erratic which would have been at the edge of the cairn,
and, on the far side of the court-tomb, a jumble of stones which
is the "souterrain" marked on the map.

The megalithic chamber,
surrounded by remains of a circular cairn, has been swallowed
up since my first visit by the devastating Henderson's Quarries,
which have destroyed at least one other wedge-tomb in their
greedy and cancerous expansion. It was probably the remains
of an imposing wedge-tomb. The court-tomb, on the other side
of the road, 200 metres W, is badly ruined, but both forecourts
and galleries (on different axes) can be distinguished. Excavation
revealed that the tomb was built over a pre-existing ceremonial
site whose wooden structures were set on fire.

About 150 metres S
of the court-tomb (W of the road) are the remains of a small
wedge-tomb whose chamber is about 3.5 metres long by 1.2 wide
and 1 metre high.

800 metres NW of the
court-tomb (H 756 889), on the edge of a wood just below the
crest of a ridge, are two stone circles close together with
a cairn between them, and a double alignment of low stones.

~ 3.5 km SE in Mobuy
(H 783 859) commanding a fine view S over a valley to the distant
Slieve Croob and Mourne Mountains of county Down, is a split-boulder
standing-stone, thought to be the last survivor of what must
have been an impressive stone circle.

~ About 2 km NE in
Corick, 400 metres S of Corick clachan or house-cluster
(C 780 896 - marked Standing Stones on the map), near
an attractive stream, are some 5 circles (one with a large standing-stone
in the middle) and 3 stone-rows.

On the
slope of a hill 6.5 km N by W of Claudy, and 800 metres E of
a by-road, approachable via a farm lane, are scattered at least
12 small round cairns and 6 stone circles (averaging 6 metres
in diameter) which may be the remains of cairns. There are also
at least 2 ruined wedge-tombs and a court-tomb with a V-shaped
forecourt, next to which there is a (?roof) slab covered with
cupmarks. Now under state care, there are paths to the main
monuments, except for the court tomb which is disappearing under
gorse. The map displayed on-site is incorrect and out of scale.

Carnalridge:
Standing-stone 'The White Wife'
C 848 387
Sheet 4

Visible against the
sky in a field to the left of a farm lane, 2.4 km SSW of Portrush,
this standing-stone is more impressive than its height of just
120 cms would suggest. Known as The White Wife, its shape
changes as you walk around it: from one side it is very phallic,
while from another it looks like a hunched human figure. A small
round stone (now cemented) was always on top of it (an ancient
tradition). The stone below was whitewashed so that the unpainted
stone looked like a head poking out of a white robe, hence its
popular name. The whitewashing of stones (especially phallic
stones - and of course the traditional phallic Ulster gateposts)
is obviously deeply-symbolic.

Carrick
East: Megalithic tomb
C 703 173
Sheets 4 and 8

In a field to the
E of a by-road 6.4 km SW of Limavady, this "anomalous" and beautiful
megalith resembles a small centre-court tomb, except that the
central court (some 3 metres in diameter) gives no access to
the chambers, which still retain their capstones.

Approached by a leafy
lane, this standing stone NW of Claudy (100 metres N of the
road to Derry City) is a magnificent quartz boulder some 1.8
metres high, beautifully patterned by crevices, natural straining
and lichens. Not surprisingly, it is known as The White Stone.

~ 8 km NNE of the Cregg
stone in a forest at Glasakeeran (C 571 151) is a wedge-tomb
known locally as The Giant's Grave, whose 5-metre chamber
has good double-walling of large stones, and is surrounded by
a horse-shoe of peristalithic slabs, over 5 metres wide at the
front (SW) end. Slabs lying by the SW and W sides may be removed
capstones or displaced stones of a façade.

~ 2 km SE in Cumber
(C 544 063) is one of several other fine non-quartzite standing-stones
in the area.

8.5 km ENE in Ballymoney
(C 618 095) is a remarkable standing-stone just under 2 metres
high, looking like a sculptural piece of driftwood and leaning
attractively to the SW.

~ 5.6 km ESE in Clagan,
400 metres SE of Clagan Bridge, are 3 prominent standing-stones,
which were overturned by treasure-seekers in 1770. Two have
been re-erected (one askew) but the third and largest (3.6 metres
long) remains prostrate. The field they are in is littered with
white quartzite pebbles, and the site commands wide views.

~ Almost 9 km SE of
the Cregg stone are Loughash wedge-tomb and stone circle,
county Tyrone.

~ 14.8 km WSW of the
Cregg stone, in county Tyrone, is a pair of standing-stones
at Sandville (C 388 048),to the S of a by-road and less
than 400 metres NNW of Milltown Burndennet. One is 2.1 metres
high and pointed - and visible- while the other (invisible in
gorse) is a little lower and has a grooved flat top. These stones,
only 75 cms apart on either side of a dense boundary fence,
seem more likely to represent male and female, like other pairs
in Ireland (notably Boherboy, county Dublin;
Ballymakane under Buncarrick, county Wexford;
and Tulnacross under Beaghmore, county
Tyrone), than to be the portals of a vanished tomb.
In this case it is likely than heifers and cows were driven
between them, one by one, to ensure their fertility. Some authorities
opine, however, that they are the two entrance-stones of a vanished
portal-tomb.

3.8 km S of the Sandville
pair (and back in county Derry) is a ruined portal-tomb at Killynaght
(C 391 011). A large capstone, about a metre thick and 2 metres
square, rests on a squashed chamber, and is known as 'The Rocking
Stone'.

Knockoneill:
Court-tomb
C 819 086
Sheet 8

To the N of a by-road,
signposted across a field, 4 km WNW of Swatragh, this well-preserved
tomb has a forecourt 7 metres in diameter, leading into a 2-chambered
gallery with a small antechamber formed by doubling the entrance-orthostats
(door-jambs). The backstone of the gallery is also a wall-stone
of a small subsidiary chamber which is entered from the SE kerb
via a passage almost 1 metre wide. The forecourt is closed by
a line of orthostats opposite the entrance, giving it the appearance
of a full-court tomb. But excavation showed these to be a later
feature, for the forecourt was used for Bronze Age burials,
and the whole tomb was re-covered with a circular Bronze Age
round cairn.

~ 2.4 km NE, in Tamnyrankin
(C 834 102 - now immediately accessible via an asphalted track)
is an even better-preserved tomb whose 12-metre long cairn survives
to a height of 2.4 metres. Behind the 2-chambered gallery a
subsidiary chamber stretches across the width of the cairn.
It is divided in two by a sill-stone. Some of the corbels of
the gallery are still in place.

~ 3.5 km NNE, in Cuilbane
(C 830 122) is "Tamny Cromlech" - a circle roughly
12 metres in diameter which, before 1984, was of 15 low stones,
the tallest being 1.2 metres high. It was badly damaged during
poetically-pointless and subsidised land-reclamation, then largely
restored in 1985, when a cache of 65 flint implements of various
kinds was found in the vacant socket of one of the larger stones.
As with most stone circles, there are good views all round.

~ 8.8 km W by S, on
a hillside overlooking the Roe river valley at Boviel
(C 730 078), is Cloghnagalla ("The Hag's Stone"),
a typical double-walled wedge-tomb whose regular, straight façade
has two fine corner-stones. An antechamber 1.8 metres deep leads
through a lintelled portal to a chamber 4.5 metres long on which
one roofstone still rests on corbels.

Moneydig:
Passage-tomb
C 889 165
Sheets 4 and 8

In a field to the W
of Moneydig crossroads, this small, "degenerate", passageless
passage-tomb known as The Daff (=black) Stone is still
covered with small cairn-stones and soil to a height of 1.5
metres. The chamber is covered with a single large capstone
and is walled by tall slabs fitting very neatly together. A
low slab on the NE side marks the entrance.

~ 8 km NNW in Crevolea
(C 847 233), on the summit of a low hill is "The Grey Stone":
the sad remains of a portal-tomb with a massive capstone estimated
to weigh over 50 tonnes. In 1837 the tomb stood over 4 metres
high, but, since the removal of the two portal-stones it is
now little more than the thickness of the capstone high: 2.8
metres.

Tamlaght:
Standing-stone and portal-tomb
H 888 785
Sheet 14

Just over the county
boundary from Coagh is "The Honeymug Stone" a fine
menhir 2.2 metres high.
About 800 metres NNW by the roadside is one of the most shamefully-obscured
dolmens in Ireland, some 4 metres high with a fine and large
quartzite capstone on 6 supporting-stones. It is almost entirely
invisible from the road because it is buried in a hedge. Right
behind it, on the other side of the hedge, is a huge concrete
cistern which prevents any view from that side.

Tireighter:
Wedge-tomb
C 592 021
Sheet 7

Across a stretch of
golf-course, about 800 metres S of the hamlet of Park, this
fine tomb (The Chieftain's Grave) was saved from demolition
some 40 years ago: only the back end was damaged. It has an
imposing façade (5 metres wide) of well-matched orthostats,
the two outside ones just 1.5 metres tall. Some typical double-walling
survives. The entrance has a typical sill-stone and leads into
an antechamber or portico and on, across a septal slab (a high
sill-stone) into the large main chamber, in the back of which
lies a massive displaced roofstone. Both chamber and portico
are partly-filled with cairn material including some white quartzite
pebbles associated with many Irish prehistoric tombs.

~ 3.6 km NNW, 400 metres
SE of Clagan Bridge, are 3 prominent standing-stones,
which were overturned by treasure-seekers in 1770. Two have
been re-erected (one askew) but the third and largest (3.6 metres
long) remains prostrate. The field they are in is littered with
white quartzite pebbles, and the site commands wide views.

~ Some 13 km W by
S are Loughash wedge-tomb and stone circle, county Tyrone.

By the side of a road
leading NE from Maghera to Killelagh Lough and Carntogher hill,
this charming dolmen is remarkable for the free-standing orthostat,
1.8 metres high, which is beside one of the portal-stones. This
suggests a derivation from the much longer court-tombs. The
picturesque capstone has slipped a little, and behind it is
a well-defined square chamber.